After an almost 20 year hiatus, the Festival of Nations is back in Chatham.
Two-and-a-half days of free activities kick off Saturday morning with a parade through downtown Chatham to Tecumseh Park at 11 a.m.
"Lots of multi-cultural things happening in the parade as well, so come out and join us," said festival co-chair Tracy Callaghan. "We're going to run down Sandys Street go to King Street all the way and lead you right to the park for opening ceremonies. After the parade, the park opens at 12 p.m. and so we've got a whole slate of activities happening there."
Callaghan said a Citizenship Ceremony will also be taking place on Saturday afternoon.
"The citizenship court, the doors will open at 1 p.m. the actual ceremony starts at 2. So if no one's seen a citizenship ceremony before, come on over and join us at the Capitol Theatre," said Callaghan. "Then we'll join everybody back over at the park."
There will be live music all weekend in the park on two different stages, and it's all free.
"We have local and cultural entertainment, we've got some big names," said festival co-chair Dava Robichaud. "Steve Oriat, is an up-and-coming country star, he's going to be here. Johnson's Creek, Loverboy, Mudmen. It's two and a half days full of entertainment, it's going to be pretty exciting."
Of course, there will also be food vendors, serving up dishes from around the world.
"We have a lot of children's activities and vendors and things for them to do as well," said festival co-chair Toni Martin. "But we also have some different food vendors this year. So we do have Mexican, we have Caribbean, we have Italian, so you should be able to find something for everybody."
Fireworks will be set off at the St. Clair College Thames Campus on Saturday at 10 p.m. The event wraps up 2 p.m. on Monday.
You can find the full schedule below:
